It’s one the 30-year-old has been chasing for most of her life, and there’s no chance of her easing up off the gas anytime soon.
“I’ve been doing this for a while now, and I think the ultimate goal, obviously, is still to be the world champ,” she said. “But I live the dream by not having to go to a nine to five, enjoying every single day and just being my own boss.”
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That does sound like a dream job if you take away the weight cutting, working out, and getting punched in the face parts, but none of that has ever made Aldrich shy away from combat sports, which she’s been involved with since her mother brought her to a taekwondo class when she was nine. And while she didn’t have an epiphany at nine that this was her career path, she did know that she found something she loved.
“Obviously, I’m nine years old, so I can’t articulate that at nine,” she laughs. “But I definitely fell in love with it and, yeah, it’s hard to say what else could fulfill that inside of me. I think just pushing yourself every day, you get caught up in fight camp and fights and hard situations, and why am I doing this? But it’s really a blessing. I’m 30 years old. There’s not many people in the world, except for top athletes, that have to wake up at 30 and be nervous about a training session or a fight or this and that. So having nerves and still being able to chase a dream at 30 years old after doing this for so long, it really is a blessing. And looking at it that way helps a lot.”
